The knight woke to the sound of birdsong. 'Hello, birds. How long have I been sleeping?' He said with a yawn. A bird chirped a response. 'What's that, bird? I've slept for three time changes? Oh well. At least I didn't get woken up by Sawa.' the knight remembered with a sigh the previous day, and how he was violently woken up by his squire, demanding for him to train her to be as strong as he was.
The knight stood up and got dressed, making sure that his sword was undamaged and in its sheath. He rolled up the sleeping bag and packed up the tent, and started walking in a random direction.
'Why don't people have signs around the place telling you where places are?' he huffed. 'Not everyone has an excellent sense of direction.' He chuckled. 'Actually, everyone does. Except for me. Why couldn't the Gamemaster give me a good sense of direction? "Oh no," they would have said, "Don't give Ace a good sense of direction. Then we can all laugh at him." Well, I like getting lost. I don't have to deal with Sawa, not for a few time changes at least.'
Ace was right, at least partly. He didn't find his way out of the forest or bump into anyone for another two time changes.
So, two time changes later, Ace bumped into someone, or more accurately, someone bumped into him. It was a young woman, a pretty one at that, with chestnut-brown waist-length hair and blue eyes. Simply by looking at her, Ace could tell that she was taller than Sawa (most people were), but she was still a head or so shorter than he was.
'Why hello there!' Ace said happily. 'It's not often that a Hatter's maid bumps into me while I'm lost in the forest!'
'Hatter's… Maid? The girl looked confused.
'Yes, you're wearing the uniform.'
'I'm not a maid for the Hatter.'
'I realized that.'
'How?'
Ace sighed. Wasn't this obvious? 'Because you have a face, that's why.'
'What do you mean, I have a face…? Of course I have a face, everyone does!' The girl didn't appear to be lying.
Ace suddenly realised something. 'You're an outsider, aren't you?'
'An outsider…? Yes, I think that's how Mr Dupre described me.'
'Mr Dupre? You mean Blood? Why did you talk to him? He's dangerous.'
'I talked to him after I woke up on his territory, I didn't really have much of a choice. Anyway, he didn't seem too dangerous, he was quite nice actually.'
'Well, obviously you didn't like him that much; otherwise you wouldn't be talking to me.'
'The Hatters were a bit violent for my taste.'
'Oh, fun, another non-violent outsider. Just what the Country of Hearts needs.'
Just then, a short girl dropped out of a nearby tree. She has long, blonde hair, and a red coat similar to Ace's, except it was about half the size. 'Ace! Finally. I found you. Don't get lost!'
'Sawa!' Ace said happily.
'Hi Ace, who's this?' Sawa asked, looking at the girl.
Before Ace was able to respond, the girl stepped forward. 'Hello, I'm Paige.'
'She's an outsider, that's how she has a face.' Ace explained.
'Who's this?' Paige asked Ace.
'This is Sawa, my girlfriend!' Ace lied and put an arm around Sawa before kissing her cheek.
Sawa blushed and pushed Ace away. 'I'm not your girlfriend! Stop saying that!'
'If you're not his girlfriend, then what relation do you have to Ace?'
'I'm his squire…' Sawa said darkly.
'She hates me.' Ace happily explained.
'So if she's your squire, that makes you a knight, correct?'
'Yes! I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself before. I'm Ace, a knight at Heart Castle, so I work for the Queen.'
Quite suddenly, it was dark. An owl flew overhead, spooking Paige. 'H-How did that happen?!'
'Instead of fixed day and nights, we have time changes,' Sawa explained. 'A time change can be for any length of time, from half an hour to hours on end.'
'Oh,' Paige simply said.
'You'll get used to it after a while. Alice did.' Ace said. 'And Julius explains things better than us. We'll take you to him tomorrow.' He unpacked the tent, laying out three sleeping bags. 'Good thing I carry a spare!'
'Is he always this optimistic…?' Paige asked Sawa.
'Yes….. It gets really annoying….. Really quickly…..' Sawa said with a sigh.
'Poor you.' Paige said with a smile before getting into her sleeping bag and quickly drifting off to sleep.
Ace took off his coat and shirt and yawned before getting into his sleeping bag. 'Sawa, I order you to stay here, in the tent, and sleep in that sleeping bag.' Ace motioned to the third sleeping bag.
'But why?!' Sawa exclaimed. 'I'm perfectly fine with sleeping outside!'
'Sawa, that's an order.'
'Turn around!' Sawa demanded.
Ace turned around, and Sawa took off her uniform and put on one of Ace's shirts, which went down to her knees. She wore it as a nightgown.
'Good night, Sawa,' Ace said with a yawn.
Sawa muttered something rude about Ace before getting into her sleeping bag and falling asleep, dreaming of marshmallows and fighting awards.
About an hour later, the Incubus floated into the tent, invisible, and watched the three of them sleep. 'They all look so innocent and peaceful sleeping,' He said with a chuckle. 'You would never guess what hardships the three of them have gone through.'
A second person floated into the tent, invisible, but she was no incubus. This person was a girl, a bit taller and older than Paige. She looked similar to the outsider, except that her eyes were green, not blue, and she had brown cat ears and a tail. Her face softened when she saw Ace sleeping so peacefully.
'Neko-chan.' the Incubus greeted her. 'I didn't expect to see you out of my realm.'
'Lord Nightmare, I apologize for breaking the rules, but I had to see him.' Neko-chan responded, daring the Incubus to punish her for what she had done.
'Then why not see him in his dreams, where you could talk to him?'
'I feel better seeing his physical form.' Neko-chan said softly, gently sitting on the edge of Ace's sleeping bag. Ace twitched in his sleep. 'And I wanted to see his squire and the outsider.'
The Incubus chuckled.
'What?' Neko-chan demanded. 'Do you find me amusing?'
'Obviously.' The Incubus replied. 'And you do know that the knight has feelings for his squire?'
Neko-chan's expression became unreadable. 'Yes,' she whispered. 'Yes, I do.'
'Are you going to do anything about it?' the Incubus asked.
'I can't. My powers are not that strong.' Neko-chan explained flatly.
'But if they were?' The Incubus asked, interested.
'You don't need to ask, you can read my thoughts.' Neko-chan responded, annoyed.
'I won't be able to for much longer.' The Incubus admitted.
This caused Neko-chan to smile. 'I know,' she said, then frowned. 'The Gamemaster will do something about that, won't they?'
The Incubus was silent for a moment. 'Yes,' he eventually responded. 'Yes, the Gamemaster will do something when your powers exceed mine. It may be a good thing, it may be a bad thing, you'll simply have to wait.'
'And wait I shall.' Neko-chan responded. 'But I will not let the Gamemaster do something to me if harms Ace in any way, shape or form.'
'You may not be able to keep that promise,' the Incubus warned. 'The Gamemaster is much stronger than anyone, and she will crush anyone that gets in her way.'
'She?!' Neko-chan exclaimed. 'The Gamemaster is female?'
'Yes, and a pretty one at that.' The Incubus responded with a sigh.
Neko-chan looked at the Incubus curiously. 'Does Lord Nightmare have feelings for the Gamemaster?'
The Incubus ignored the question and floated out of the tent. 'Come, Neko-chan, we must go.'
Neko-chan kissed Ace's cheek before floating out of the tent after the Incubus. 'Goodbye,' she whispered. 'I'll see you again, someday.' And by the time that the first few rays of sunlight broke through the canopy of leaves, the Incubus and the woman had faded away, back to the Incubus's realm of shadows and darkness.